Mnemosyne Games

Half way!

We’d like to report an interesting interview made to AKI, that deepens some aspects of the project. It’s also an opportunity to be happy because we have overcome half way to our goal. 3 weeks are left… the drum roll is going to begin!

Ace: You tote your project as the first KOF-Vania which I believe was described as a mash up of King of Fighters and Castlevania. Can you dive deeper into how Demoniaca realizes this idea?

AKI: Recently, there have been several Metroidvania games released, but Demoniaca is an original experiment and a real hybrid. We took the Gothic setting, room-block system combined with side scrolling, and the RPG element from Castlevania, and from KOF, the graphic style and proportions, but mostly the combo system which is strictly barehanded. What makes our project unique is the fighting mechanic deployed in the action platformer, in fact in Demoniaca all moves and skills are activated by performing a combination of commands in true fighting game style. The player must not only evolve their own character, but also learn to perform suitable combinations for each situation.

Ace: The art style is very unique, is the art in your concepts the finalized view or do you have plans to smooth / perfect it in any way?

AKI: Our aim in that sense is to enhance the graphic style by enriching and adding frames to the animations in order to make gameplay more fluid and enjoyable. Pixel art will be maintained not only in-game but even in the cut-scenes. It’s very hard work since each skill or attack is composed of several frames just like in the classic fighting games from SNK. Regarding the background visuals, we have a lot to improve especially on the parallax planes and lighting effects in order to make the atmosphere deep and immersive.

Ace: I did see you offered an uncensored version of the game and was curious on the decision to include it, can you expand a bit on that?

AKI: We believe that in a horror game, features like nudity and violence are fundamental ingredients. They also occur frequently in manga, which is an important influence on our concept! The game concept proposes not only “sexy scenes” but unrestricted use of violence and gore. We are indie developers and releasing an uncensored “director’s cut” version highlights our willingness to keep our freedom of expression. The truth is we do have a censored version as well. It is not a simple pixelization censorship though, since that would not be easy to apply to a pixel art game, but it uses alternative assets suitable for a more sensitive audience.

Ace: Finally, what would you like to tell potential backers about how your game is different from the thousands of campaigns currently live on Kickstarter?

AKI: First off, although it may not look like it, Demoniaca is a truly indie project. Often, behind a quality “indie game” there are important software houses and strong marketing campaigns. Even if our visibility is limited, we can only rely on our strengths powered by our supporters that have appreciated our effort so far. On the other hand our position allows us to create the exact game we want to without any contractual restrictions.